The present disclosure relates to a system and device for supporting horizontal boiler tubes. The system comprises a support plate having supporting arms, a vertical stringer tube, and a shear lug.
In many boilers, water and/or steam flows back and forth through horizontally disposed tubes and is exposed to hot gases passing over the exterior of the tubes, causing the water and/or steam to be heated. The passes of the tubes must be supported as the water and/or steam within the tubes is heated.
The conventional method of supporting horizontally disposed tubes from vertical stringer tubes is to weld individual castings onto the stringer tubes and then support the horizontal tubes on these castings. Each casting typically has two welds to the stringer tube that are approximately two inches in length. The cost of manufacturing such a system is high, and the required time necessary is equally high. Such short welds in this method are inherently difficult and time consuming because, by the time a weld bead is developed, the weld is almost complete. This process of constantly starting and stopping welds is the most difficult and risky part of the welding operation. If the stringer tube is thin, there is increased risk of burn-through from the immense number of welds that can easily approach the hundreds of thousands on a single boiler. This results in a high cost of manufacturing and requires long time periods to complete.
It would be desirable to provide a system and device for supporting the boiler tubes, particularly a system capable of withstanding changes in tube length as the tubes expand and contract due to temperature changes encountered during boiler operation, that has reduced costs and manufacturing time.